Hollywood Hunter

Simon and Joseph Schrapp reworked the lobbying plan for the federal media integration ban.

The French Vivendi Group suddenly initiated an acquisition from Disney. In order to prevent more major Hollywood film companies from falling into the hands of foreigners, it is now pushing the Congress to lift the ban on media integration. It is not successful to pass before Vivendi and Disney reach an acquisition agreement. problem.

Simon did not intend to do this.

From the standpoint of the Westeros system, Simon hopes that Vivendi’s acquisition of Disney will be successful. When another large film company falls into the hands of foreigners, due to the pressure of public opinion, the ban on media integration will be lifted in the future. Daenerys The political obstacles to entertainment when it launches the acquisition of TV networks will be much smaller.

Moreover, if the media integration ban is lifted in advance, it is likely that the veteran three major television networks will compete with Vivendi, or even if it happens to be the Metropolis ABC Group, which Simon prefers, it will be even more troublesome.

Even if it is not ABC, Disney and NBC or CBS will join forces to become another comprehensive entertainment media giant, and it will definitely become a strong competitor of Daenerys Entertainment in Hollywood.

Simon is not afraid of competition, and hopes that at the right time, there will be a strong enough competitor to confront Daenerys Entertainment.

Not now.

In contrast, letting Disney be acquired by Vivendi, this big Hollywood studio, whose development momentum has been unsatisfactory in recent years because of the influence of Simon this big butterfly, will only continue to weaken.

Neither the native Hollywood nor the US government will make it easier for outsiders trying to break into the US entertainment industry.

Many past and future examples have proved this point.

If Disney merges with the local TV network, Daenerys Entertainment will take action to suppress it, and it will certainly arouse widespread public opinion, and the federal government will not sit idly by. On the contrary, if Disney becomes a subsidiary of a French company, even if this big Hollywood studio with more than half a century of history goes bankrupt, many people will only turn a blind eye.

Want fair competition?

nonexistent.

After all, this is protectionism.

Knowing this, Simon will basically establish a close interest relationship with the local forces in the overseas expansion of the Westeros system.

For example, when Meili Shanzhuo had the opportunity to wholly acquire Gucci and other companies, Simon gave up. Nokia has just developed, and Simon has also taken the initiative to list this company in Europe in order to share benefits. On the Russian side, the Westeros system provided almost all the operating funds, but only required half of the profit share, which can be called vomiting blood.

And Australia.

If it were not for the Johnston family's deep roots in Australia, Simon would not get involved in mining resources that are the lifeblood of Australia's economy, nor would he invest heavily in Australia's mobile communications and Internet industries. Because it is very clear that if you rush to occupy the site without roots and bottomlessness, you will only get dusty.

As a result, many overseas collaborators of the Westeros system feel that they are taking advantage and spare no effort to use their resources and connections in their respective countries to assist in the expansion of the Westeros system, and Simon has gained more from this.

Look at the outsiders in Hollywood.

Whether it is Sony of Japan or Seagram of Canada, relying on wealth and strength, they all choose to eat their goals in Hollywood, and now Vivendi plans to do the same.

Now that these companies have become wholly-owned subsidiaries of your foreigners, the position of the federal government has naturally changed.

Peter Cooper and John Peters hurt Columbia Pictures, and even caused a huge write-down loss of more than two billion US dollars for Sony. If Sony is an American company, Peter Cooper and John Peters The two must be investigated and charged for suspected serious economic crimes.

The result was that the two left Sony with a mess, and they took tens of millions of dollars in salary and benefits they had accumulated over the years to enjoy their retirement life unharmed.

Simon had lunch at Sofia’s house at noon. Before Sofia’s parents took the two children to avoid them, the two left Greenwich together and took a helicopter to Martha’s Vineyard, a famous tourist destination about 250 kilometers northeast of New York.

Sophia had already cleaned up one of Simon's properties here in advance yesterday.

Martha’s Vineyard is one of the historic tourist destinations on the east coast. Not only a large number of wealthy people, politicians, and celebrities like to buy properties here, but many American presidents regard it as a designated vacation spot. There are many famous places around this famous island. News events.

For example, Spielberg's famous work "Jaws" was originally filmed on Martha's Vineyard.

For another example, John F. Kennedy Jr., who was responsible for the restoration of the Kennedy family, died after a plane crash on the return journey after attending a wedding in Martha's Vineyard. Of course, this happened in 1999 in Simon's memory, and now little John F. Kennedy is still alive.

Two Black Hawk helicopters landed one after another on the lawn of a mansion with a private beach in Oak Town, north of Martha's Vineyard. Unlike the 30-acre manor in Greenwich, this beach mansion is only about 6 acres.

Of course, even this is not something that ordinary rich people can own, and ordinary people are even more hopeless.

Simon and Sofia got off the helicopter. The two groups of bodyguards from the other helicopter, led by Neil Bennett, carried various instruments and entered the villa first. They carried out routine anti-eavesdropping checks, and then installed and activated the surrounding area of ​​the manor. Monitor the alert system.

After being so busy for more than half an hour, the bodyguards withdrew to the annex, leaving only Simon and Sofia in the three-story resort-style main villa.

world of two people.

Sophia is no longer reserved, and Simon is still energetic after experiencing last night.

After a ridiculous afternoon, when I woke up again on the big bed in the master bedroom of the villa, I could see the sky full of stars through the glass windows of the bedroom. Unfortunately, this villa did not have a terrace, and the two Simons had no intention of going outdoors. Although the scenery and climate of Martha's Vineyard are pleasant, there is no shortage of mosquitoes in the summer.

The view on the big bed was very small, so Sofia pulled Simon up and went to the window, moved the original sofa and coffee table here, covered it with a blanket, and lay down again.

Sticking to Simon's chest, with the sky full of stars, listened to the little man telling all sorts of weird stories about the starry sky from the East and the West, then rejoiced, and then fell asleep until the next morning.

When he woke up in the morning, Simon made up his mind to abstain from **** for a week.

However, thinking about returning to Los Angeles this morning, I decided to start abstinence from next Monday.

Sophia was radiant in the morning, and her fair skin was ruddy, which made people want to take a bite.

After eating breakfast, I finally remembered that there was still some business to discuss.

In the past few years, Melisandre has expanded at the rate of acquiring a company almost every year. After the initial Gucci, it acquired Chateau Latour in 1990, bought Van Cleef & Arpels in 1991, merged with CK in 1992, and won Christie’s in 1993. auction.

If it weren't for Simon's intervention, Melisandre would open a fashion TV station last year.

The pace of expansion this year will naturally not stop.

In fact, since the first half of the year, Sophia has been looking for various targets, but some transactions have failed for various reasons.

In recent years, even though a large amount of funds have been invested for expansion, because the luxury goods industry itself has very high profit margins, even after paying dividends to other shareholders, Melisandre still unknowingly accumulated more than 300 million US dollars in cash balance.

In this era, even many Fortune 500 companies may not be able to spend $3 casually.

It is not without reason that Bernard Arnault, the former LVMH boss, followed Jeff Bezos as the second billionaire in the world.

Lacking an annexation target for the time being, Sophia began investing all this money in the US stock market in accordance with Simon's suggestion from the second half of last year, buying a large number of technology stocks that continue to be sought after.

At present, the principal of 300 million US dollars has increased by more than 50%, and can be cashed out for acquisition and expansion at any time.

This time, Sophia brought three companies' information at once.

All are famous.

Bulgari, Versace, Vacheron Constantin.

On the private beach of the Martha’s Vineyard mansion, Simon leaned on the sun lounger under the umbrella and looked at the information of the three companies. Sophia, who seemed to be wearing only a men’s shirt, walked over with a cold drink and put the tray aside On the coffee table, he didn't go to the lounge chair next to him. Instead, he sat directly in Simon's arms and asked, "How is it?"

Simon put down the information in his hand, motioned to the woman to pass himself a glass of juice, and said, "They are all good, and there are problems."

The three companies, different from Gucci or CK, which were hunters, at least on the surface, are operating very well.

However, there are many problems inside.

Bulgari is an Italian jewelry and watch company that is still controlled by the Bulgari family.

Compared with Van Cleef & Arpels under Melisandre, this company is much larger in scale, with a turnover of 530 million U.S. dollars in 1993 and a net profit of 110 million U.S. dollars. It has recently begun seeking a listing on the Milan Stock Exchange. , The estimated IPO valuation is between 1 billion and 1.5 billion US dollars.

Melisandre has already contacted the Bulgari family.

There are different attitudes within the Bulgari family for listing. Of course, there are many benefits for companies to go public, but they will certainly be subject to various constraints, with pros and cons.

This is also Melisandre's opportunity.

However, although some people in the Bulgari family tend to cooperate with Melisandre, according to the results of previous discussions, Melisandre can get up to 30% of Bulgari.

This did not meet Sophia's expectations.

Because Melisandre already has a subsidiary of the same type, Van Cleef & Arpels, and its development momentum is very good in recent years. In 1993, its turnover reached 350 million U.S. dollars. Compared with 1990 before the acquisition, the turnover increased by 105. %, the scale is not much worse than Bulgari.

The most important point is that Melisandre owns 60% of Van Cleef & Arpels.

Therefore, if only 30% of Bulgari's shares can be acquired, it will inevitably face a problem of resource balance.

With the same resources, 60%-owned subsidiaries and 30%-owned subsidiaries, it is self-evident which side the operator will prefer.

This is not what Sophia wants to see.

In order to avoid the emergence of competitors, large luxury giants often eliminate potential threats through early acquisitions.

LVMH in Simon's memory has done this more than once.

However, Melisandre, which is in a rapid rise, has not yet entered this stage.

If it wants to acquire Bulgari, Sophia naturally hopes that this jewelry and watch company, which has a better foundation than Van Cleef & Arpels, can go a step further, instead of creating unequal internal competition due to uneven resource distribution, or even leading to one of them. Eventually decline.

Therefore, if you want to maintain a certain balance, even if you don’t get the same 60% stake in Bulgari, according to the evaluation of the Melisandre acquisition team, this proportion should reach at least 40%.

30% and 40% of the equity seems to be similar. For the Bulgari family whose equity has been dispersed in the hands of various family members, it means that Melisandre will become the largest shareholder.

The Bulgari family is willing to accept external investors, but does not want to cause control of the family business to be sidelined.

If so, it might as well conduct an IPO.

After Versace, the question is more interesting.

As one of the most popular luxury brands in recent years, Versace's turnover in 1993 reached 650 million US dollars, and the scale of revenue even exceeded Bulgari.

For luxury goods companies, this is actually very amazing.

You know, Bulgari was founded in 1884 and has a history of 110 years, while Versace was only established in 1978. Even if Gianni Versace is brilliant, the growth of luxury brands cannot avoid sufficient accumulation.

So, where is the problem?

Sophia did not sell anything in the information.

The Italian Mafia.

According to Sofia’s investigation, as rumors in Simon’s memory, the Versace brand was indeed used as a money laundering tool by the powerful Italian mafia.

Ordinary people always feel very mysterious and high-end about money laundering, and the actual operation process is very simple.

Take luxury money laundering as an example.

The gang first signs a loan contract with a luxury goods company and lends a large sum of money out of thin air.

This money definitely does not exist.

Then, the gang used their power to purchase a large number of goods from the stores of the luxury company to contribute revenue to the luxury brand. The brand then repays this revenue to the other party by paying off debts, and the original black money suddenly becomes legal income.

In order to save costs, the luxury goods purchased can even be recycled.

However, in general, the cost of money laundering is often very high.

If someone can create a money laundering model that costs less than 30%, they will definitely be regarded as a guest of honor by the global gang. In fact, black money becomes legal income, but taxes and fees may not be less than 30%, and the total cost of money laundering is often more than 50%.

The key reason why the governments of many western countries maintain varying degrees of tolerance to gangs is that these gangs are actually contributing large sums of taxes to governments of various countries.

After the former Gianni Versace was shot, the rumor that the Mafia tried to steal the ashes of Versace to force debts from the Versace family, this detail can be seen.

Versace's operating conditions are so good, and its annual profits are huge. Even if there is a problem with the capital turnover, it can easily obtain financing through formal channels. How can it be possible to borrow from the Mafia?

Moreover, in the original time and space, at the peak of 1996, Versace's revenue reached 1.1 billion US dollars.

This is even more unusual.

The profit margins of luxury goods companies are very high, and the scale of revenue is limited by market capacity but it is difficult to expand.

The $1 billion revenue in the 1990s was definitely a giant in the luxury goods industry. Is it true that a designer born as a small Italian country tailor really has so much charm to create all this?

You know, after Gianni Versace was shot, even if another 20 years have passed, the Versace brand has revived, and the turnover has not exceeded 1 billion US dollars. When Versace was acquired by another comprehensive luxury goods giant in 2017, its annual revenue was only 660 million euros, equivalent to 750 million US dollars.

Moreover, after the death of Versace, Versace quickly declined, revenue and profit plummeted, once hovering on the verge of bankruptcy that even catwalk models could not afford.

Where is the problem?

A luxury brand giant that has achieved a revenue of over 1 billion U.S. dollars in less than two decades after its establishment, even if the founder dies, even if the heir is no longer a weapon, it should have sufficient anti-risk capabilities.

That being the case, the rapid decline of Versace, the rapid decline in revenue and profits, the reasons for the slightly more savvy people can understand.

Because some of the original extra income disappeared.

Not only that,

The matter of stealing ashes to force debts is certainly not without a target.

However, the Mafia will certainly not be so stupid as to "kidnap" Versace's ashes to press for debt. This is obviously just a warning.

Warning?

It's very simple, intimidating the dead, how can intimidating the living effective.

With the terrorist influence of the Mafia in Italy, Simon believed that even if Versace died, the Versace family could not escape some of the debts owed.

Therefore, in order to repay the debt, Versace must draw a large amount of money from the company, which is likely to cause the company's capital chain to dry up or even break, and the part of the revenue supported by the original black money disappears with the death of Versace. This kind of worse, the decline of Versace is inevitable.